Magic, cat and time travel
by Redzik
Summary: The cat started purring loudly during Nightwing's babbling, butting it's head under his chin and fawning in an attempt to calm the man down. If Bruce didn't know better the cat might have looked a little guilty.


Wow... I started this almost two years ago and recently got an urge to finish it. I don't remember where I was going with this, so it turned into that, and somehow Tim got more 'screen time' than I'm comfortable with. Oh well. I hope it's still something fun to read.

All mistakes are my own.

* * *

"Jason!" Nightwing screamed, throwing himself into the line of fire.

Batman could only watch helplessly as his eldest son barely avoided bullets as he scooped the black with a splash of white cat into his arms and jumped away behind some cover.

Red Hood unfroze and returned fire, quickly disposing of the danger. Batman was surprised to note none of the men were dead.

Bruce looked warily at the man wearing the red helmet, but he was entirely focused on Nightwing fussing over the creature.

"Oh my God, are you alright?" Dick panicked, running his hands all over the cat. "Are you hurt? That was stupid. You could get killed. I can't lose you, Jay. What would I do without you, Little Wing?"

The cat started purring loudly during Nightwing's babbling, butting it's head under his chin and fawning in an attempt to calm the man down.

If Bruce didn't know better the cat might have looked a little guilty.

"What. The. Fuck." Red Hood turned to Batman, holstering his guns and waving in Nightwing's general direction, who curled around the cat protectively, murmuring soothing nonsense apparently unaware of their presence.

The cat stopped purring and growled instead, tail swishing in the air agitatedly, but it didn't move otherwise and endured the cuddling.

Batman shrugged, because well… what the fuck?

The strange beam of light, that hit him and Red Hood during their fight came out of nowhere and when it subsided they were in an alley with a large black cat with a white patch on it's forehead staring at them with wide green eyes. A few seconds later armed men charged into the alley and started shooting. And then Nightwing dropped down to save a cat. A _cat_. Named _Jason_.

"Oh!" came the soft surprised exclamation from the entry to the alleyway.

Batman and Red Hood spun around to face the newcomer, prepared for action.

"Easy there," a young man wearing a black cowl with a cape and Robin outfit with belts crossed across his chest smiled and stepped carefully over the felled villains with his hands raised non-threateningly. He came to a stop near Batman, making sure the Dark Knight was between him and Red Hood. One never could be too careful when it came to time travel after all. He glanced at Nightwing.

"You alright there?" Tim called to his older brothers.

Dick nodded from where he smushed his face into Jason's neck. The cat meowed haggardly.

Red Robin winced.

Since Red Hood got turned into a cat Dick's over protectiveness he usually displayed when one of his siblings got hurt took a whole new level. He clung to the cat as if Jason was to disappear the second Dick took his eyes off him. And God forbid Jay the cat got into a dangerous situation. There was simply no force on Earth, or possibly in the entire universe, to separate a terrified Dick form the cat until he made sure that Jason was alright.

"Let up a little before you strangle him," Tim advised.

Dick sighed mournfully, but loosened his hold.

"Robin?" Batman asked. The boy wore different costume and was older, but it definitely was Timothy Drake.

"More or less," Red Robin grinned at him. "You're in the future. A lot of things changed since then."

"Like the cat," Red Hood deadpanned.

"The cat is a recent development, but we're working on it," Tim shrugged and looked at Red Hood knowingly, "Nightwing loves him very much."

"It's called Jason," Batman commented. What on Earth Dick was thinking calling a cat by this name? There were better, less painful ways of remembering Jason. "After-"

"Jason Todd," Red Robin nodded solemnly and leaned in conspiratorially. He waited for a beat until Red Hood got close enough to hear too. It was too good of an opportunity to pass up, since Batman didn't seem to know Jason was alive yet and a perfect revenge for what Dick did to him a few days back. And Red Hood might appreciate the joke enough to not to murder him until they get them back into their proper time. "Dick's not exactly stable as of late. He claimed he was seeing Jason everywhere." Tim wasn't even lying too much. Dick was too scared to lose Jason while he was in such a vulnerable condition. And the two lived together in Blüdhaven. "And then he showed up with that cat and declared it's name is Jason Todd. We tried to reason with him, but Dick just got really agitated at that, so we let him be. But.. he's getting worse."

"Worse?" Batman growled.

Red Robin hesitated briefly, choosing carefully what to say, but Batman didn't even wait for a response. Bruce strode to Nightwing and loomed over him.

"Give me that cat," he demanded.

Oh shit, Tim managed to think before the Hell broke loose.

* * *

"What happened?" Bruce asked as Tim emerged form the Batmobile. He got back to the 'Cave immediately after Red Robin requested the Batmobile to be sent to his location. It usually meant there was someone hurt and needing medical attention, so Bruce wanted to be prepared. Especially with the guests from the past.

He frowned in concern at the cat lying limply in Tim's arms. It didn't seem to be harmed, but it didn't mean much in their line of work. Tim had a few bloody scratches on the part of his face not covered by the cowl, so Jason had to fight before he succumbed to whatever was wrong with him. Still, Tim was too calm for the situation to be any real emergency.

Bruce's gaze wandered further to the other side of the vehicle where Red Hood was struggling to haul unconscious Nightwing from the car. His eldest son also seemed to be in good condition as far as he could see.

Tim shifted guiltily, Bruce noted before his attention was drawn to Batman as he climbed out of the Batmobile. His suit was scratched, cape was in tatters and his face mauled.

"Explain," Bruce glared at Red Robin, waving Red Hood and his cargo further to medical bay.

"It's not my fault your response to an agitated Nightwing is to sedate him," Tim grumbled.

Bruce crossed his arms, waiting.

Tim slumped with a sigh.

"I made a joke," he said. "You, I mean Batman, took it too seriously and he tried to take Jason away from Dick. Dick didn't take it well." That was an understatement of the century. Tim didn't expect such a violent response from his older brother. He thought that Nightwing was his usual overprotective self, but the reaction he witnessed as Batman tried to take the cat from his hands hinted at something else. Batman had to drug Nightwing the get him off him. And immediately after had to fight a very pissed off cat. Tim tried to help. Red Hood just cackled from the sidelines. "And then Jason jumped on him. He got you, I mean Batman, good before I managed to catch him and sedate him too."

Bruce pinched the bridge of his nose.

"You're grounded," he declared.

"What?" Tim blinked at him and protested, "No! Why? You didn't ground Dick after what he did to me!"

"Dick is an adult and responsible for his own choices," Bruce replied. "Besides he did it out of worry and not any malicious intent. You would realize that if you slept more than three hours in three days. Which was the entire point."

"Oh," Tim bit his lip. Yeah, it did made sense. Especially if Dick was in his protective mode. "Alright, I'll try to do better." Red Robin sighed. "Something is wrong with Dick, though. Do you know what happened?"

"I don't." Bruce glared into distance. Tim realized Bruce was angry at not knowing, but wasn't pushing the issue for some reason. "But Jason is helping him through whatever it is."

"I see," Tim hummed contemplatively. The cat in his arms growled. "Uh, I better put him down before he goes for _my_ throat." Tim hastily made his way over to the cot Red Hood lied Nightwing on and carefully put the cat next to the slumbering form. Jason shifted to curl closer to the warmth of Dick's body and slept on.

"You have Red Hood in your 'Cave," Batman growled lowly, stepping up to Bruce's side.

"He's always welcome," Bruce shrugged as Batman narrowed his eyes at him and went to rummage through medical supplies. He came up with some cleaning pads and handed them to Batman.

"He's a murderer," Batman pointed out cleaning his face.

"He got better," Bruce said.

Batman mulled it over for a few moments and decided to deal with it later.

"Nightwing has a cat named Jason," he deadpanned.

"Dick doesn't have a cat," Bruce smirked. The Batcomputer beeped. "Excuse me."

Batman continued cleaning his scratches, pondering the mystery and carefully watching Red Hood and Red Robin as they talked about something near to where Nightwing lied.

The beast from hell woke up and stretched. The cat looked around and unsteadily climbed on Dick's chest, where it curled into a ball and went back to sleep. Or it was just resting, Batman corrected his observation as every time one of the Reds got too close it started growling.

"Jason," Bruce got back to the medical bay and the cat and Red Hood looked at him. "Zatanna will be here soon to change you back."

The cat meowed, pleased.

"Change… him… back," Batman said slowly.

"Shit, it's really true," Red Hood muttered.

"You think Zatanna will be able to help them too?" Tim asked. "The longer they stay here, the more they will learn and the more they will screw up."

"We'll see," Bruce stated.

* * *

Zatanna came, laughed at Jason's predicament, listened to Batman and Red Hood as they recounted what happened to land them in the future and went to work. Turning Jason back to his human form was easiest, so she did that first.

Jason stretched and groaned as his bones popped back into their proper places. He took a shirt and sweatpants Tim presented him with.

"That's the last time I jump in the way of a spell coming at you brats," Jason glared at his younger brother while putting on clothes. "A week of being strangled to death! Never. Again."

"Uhuh," Tim smirked. "You could always stay with me. Or Damian."

"There's no way in hell I would let you or that Demon pet me," Jason growled.

"But you let Dick pet you and hug you all the time," Tim sang and dodged an attack with a laugh.

* * *

Dick woke up disoriented. He still felt sluggish from whatever he was dosed with and he struggled for a moment to remember what had happened. And then it all come back to him and he rolled out of the cot, frantically looking around. He heard voices in another part of the 'Cave and stumbled in their direction.

"Jason!" he screamed in desperate need to know his little brother turned into cat was safe and sound. "Jason!"

"Jesus! I'm here," Jason hurried to him. "Calm down."

"Jason!" Dick cried reaching for the younger man, very much not a cat anymore. He briefly caught a glimpse of other people behind Jason's back before burying into his chest in relief.

"It's okay," Jason murmured, running his hand soothingly along Dick's spine. Dick shivered and pulled himself even closer to Jason.

Jason sighed and slowly pulled him along to where the others were. Dick still was in this sleepy haze from the drugs so he barely noticed they moved.

"Come on," Jason jostled him. "Say goodbye to Batman and Red Hood."

"Bye," Dick didn't know what Jason was talking about, but complied, face still pressed into warm chest.

Jason laughed fondly.

"Alright," he said scooping Dick up into his arms. "Let's get you out of the suit, showered and into bed."

Dick curled into the warm hold.

"Will you stay?" he slurred as Jason carried him away. He vaguely heard Zatanna chant something and someone talking, but wasn't too interested to find out what was happening. Jason was calm, so it definitely wasn't something bad.

"Yeah, Dick," Jason replied softly. "I'll stay."


End file.
